Demonic Cremator – Suffer In Hellfire

‘Suffer in Hellfire’ is the third album from the Scottish black metal band Demonic Cremator. It is the follow up to their self-released 2011 album ‘Crucified’.

Straight from the offset we’re in for some fast faced, guitar focused black metal with shout-like, thrash metal style vocals. I can detect some influences from early and recent Darkthrone in the sound patterns and the overall speed of the music on tracks like the opener Slack Jawed (Lights Out). The main difference is that this is a lot more refined. Despite the obvious black metal undertones, the title track is definitely leaning more towards the thrash/heavy metal category thanks to the catchy, “rocking” guitar riffs and the thrash metal vocals. What style is this? The closest comparison I think come up with is ‘The Cult is Alive’ album by Darkthrone, even the vocals are similar.

This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album. All songs on here are rather short with the longest clocking in at just under four minutes and most of them contain the aforementioned “rocking” guitar riffs. Fans of orthodox and raw black metal may be disappointed to hear some of the catchy guitar tunes that Demonic Cremator has to offer. Take Firehole for instance, the opening riffs and fast drumming are more typical of current thrash metal bands such as Toxic Holocaust than the likes of old Dark Funeral or Mayhem. Luckily I happen to like this style. Other noteworthy tracks include: Driven By Courage which reminds me of Merciful Fate for some reason; and the slower paced In The Face of God, one of the few songs featuring some down-tuned black metal guitar elements.

Overall this is a surprisingly enjoyable album which I would recommend to fans of modern Darkthrone.